Alexander the Juweler

I live in a small village near The Hague called Voorburg. There are a few shoppingcenter’s nearby and one of them has a jeweler called Alexander. This shoppingcenter isn’t anything special, on the contrary. The only good thing is that it has two large supermarkets and a shop where they sell about every watchmagazine there is. So, for serious shopping I go to The Hague. However, my girlfriend has some shops in the shoppingcenter which she really likes, so everytime I join her, I try to peek around at the jewelers who are located there. Alexander is one of them. Most of the brands they sell there are not my cup of tea, Tag Heuer, Rado, Longines, Montblanc etc. The only thing that have my attention are the Montblanc pens in the window. I tried a Montblanc watch once there, and I decided that I should stick with their pens only. The last time I was there, it was for a bracelet for my girlfriend (we didn’t buy anything, they had nothing for her small wrists). Anyway, when I was there the last time, I glanced at the seller’s (Alexander himself) wrist and noticed his Rolex GMT-Master II. Great watch, I had the GMT-Master for quite a while. However, this made me think about Alexander and the collection he sells.

The fact that he wears a watch that he doesn’t sell is something you can think about. He surely tells by wearing this watch that he rather wears a Rolex than a watch from his own selling collection. Has he more ‘faith’ in Rolex than in the brands he is selling? I think there are a lot of customers who are looking for a watch who will ask what the seller himself is wearing (at least I do) and ask about their opinions/arguments. This isn’t the case for jewelers who also sell occasions and who do grey-import, but this isn’t the case.

Ofcourse, maybe watches are his hobby and this is just one of his watches. Could be. But I still rather saw him wearing a watch from the collection he sells. I just feel that wearing a Rolex in your store where you sell Longines, Rado, Montblanc, Tag Heuer is showing contempt towards these brands.

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Robert-Jan Broer, born in 1977, watch collector and author on watches for over a decade. Founder of Fratello Watches in 2004.

john

Little bit Off Topic, but on the other hand I sometimes wonder how a simple salesman/employee can afford a 6000 euro IWC from the collection “his” store sells…. (you know, that other store in the Hague):-)

Hope I do not offend someone, if so, please delete

Robert-Jan

I assume you are talking about Steltman in The Hague? GJW in The Hague is also IWC dealer but I don’t think their salesman has an IWC on his wrist, as I happen to know him quite well 🙂

Ofcourse, a salesman probably makes less than I do, and I know I can’t pick an 6000 Euro watch from the shelf 🙂 So I guess he can pick a watch and use it while he works there or maybe it is some sort of annual salesbonus.

However, still… I rather have a salesman wear a 6K IWC than something they don’t sell at all. 🙂

RJ

Robert Hampsjire

Are you guys for real, he markets what he can. rolex is eclusive. It could be a gift or have sentimental value. Could be he just knows watches and wears what he can afford, man. The other brands are good have tried severl always go back to my beat up submariner

Robert-Jan

@Robert Hampsjire,

You seem to miss the point here and more.. the watches he sells are quite below Rolex standard. Nothing wrong with them, but ‘wears what he can afford’ really misses the boat.

If he is so much into marketing his own productions, he should wear a Montblanc or Tissot watch, the brands he sells, not a Rolex.